Divas on a Mission: Evelyn Bandoh
Welcome to the premiere edition of our new column: Divas on a Mission. Each month, we will be featuring young women under 40 who are making outstanding contributions to their community. This month’s featured diva is creative pioneer, Evelyn Bandoh.
Evelyn Bandoh has been engaged in personal financial coaching and advising since 2005 and is the founder of EAB Creative Planning Services, LLC, a business and financial coaching firm for creative entrepreneurs. Evelyn frequently addresses civic, youth and business groups on how to plan for personal and business financial success. Her mission is to help creative businesses and entrepreneurs maintain sustainable enterprises by providing training, advising and coaching services that are relevant to the needs of the creative community.
She facilitates personal finance and small business workshops throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area and publishes a blog called Fiscally Fit Fashionista, where she provides practical business and financial advice to her readers. Evelyn also teaches financial, business and investment education to youth in the DC Metropolitan Area and teaches at the Art Institute of Washington in the Fashion and Retail Management Program.
MGS: Let’s start with your journey into entrepreneurship. What was the inspiration behind launching EAB Creative Planning Services? How did you find the courage to pursue your dreams and what was the defining moment when you realized it was finally time to make the leap?
Evelyn: In short, the inspiration behind EAB was to help creative entrepreneurs generate wealth through their creativity. My business initially started out as a regular small business training company, but I soon realized that this did not fulfill me. One day while having a heart-to-heart with myself I asked: “What’s missing?” The immediate answer was “creativity.” From there, it took about four to five months of soul searching to place that statement into context and put things in perspective.
I have never bought into the concept of the “starving artist,” but realizing this is a reality for many creatives I wanted to take a further look at why they often struggled to make ends meet or even gain recognition for their work. After many years of research, traveling, working with various people, and just being observant, I discovered that it was an inability to focus on the business side, or the left-brained side of their art/creativity.
In terms of the leap, it got to the point where I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. My job was literally sucking the life out of me. I had no energy and I became fed-up. It was my fear of not being able to support myself that kept me chained to the desk. However, after a series of events, I realized there is never a “right time.” There is only “my time” and “Spirit’s time.” Once we were aligned, I knew I could take that leap of faith and feel at peace with my decision.
MGS: Describe some of the challenges you faced in starting your business and making the transition from employee to business owner. How did you overcome these obstacles? Was it difficult to walk away from a career you had invested so much time into building?
Evelyn: Honestly, one of the biggest challenges was myself… vacillating between faith and fear. This type of energetic movement is very disruptive to the flow of success. I also had to learn how to set boundaries and define my ideal revenue model. Since pursuing entrepreneurship, I have learned so much about myself in terms of how I like to work and the type of work I like to do.
Money and cash flow were other obstacles. When you don’t have a steady paycheck to rely on, it’s important to forecast your cash flow and remain mindful of your spending by creating a budget. It’s hard to be productive when you’re worried about how you’re going to pay your bills.
In terms of the career, it wasn’t difficult to leave because I realized it wasn’t something I wanted in the first place. Granted, I did miss the paycheck, and I did miss the stability and the infrastructure provided. When I struck out on my own, so to speak, I had to create a work schedule that was productive and conducive to my needs. It took awhile for me to find my rhythm and flow in my work cycle. My new motto is “never work harder for someone else’s dream than you would for your own.” Repeating this mantra keeps things in perspective and allows me to make better strategic decisions.
MGS: For individuals looking to make a sustainable income from their creative ventures, please tell our readers a little about the services you offer and how clients can benefit from your services?
Evelyn: To sum it up, I offer services that provide education and awareness; and empower creative entrepreneurs and creative organizations to make great strategic decisions including: holistic business advising, personal finance coaching, program development services for creative organizations and nonprofits, and entrepreneurial training workshops.
Some of my more popular workshops are: Creative Entrepreneurs Boot camp, Financial Planning for Creative Entrepreneurs, Your Money Personality and Exploring Entrepreneurship. In addition to the live trainings, I’m also working on a series of webinars and self learning tools that clients will be able to download directly from the EAB Web site. I will start rolling those out during the first half of 2010.
MGS: You recently added non-profit advisory services for creative/arts-based organizations to your ever-expanding repertoire of services. How have you continued to build your business during the current economic downturn?
Evelyn: I’ve actually taken a step back to re-evaluate what’s working and what’s not. Time is money and if you can provide value in a shorter amount of time, you have truly hit the nail on the head as a service provider. I’m also spending more time developing self-guided tools that can be downloaded, so clients can use them at their discretion and on their own time.
MGS: In hosting seminars and workshops, you have partnered with numerous nonprofit organizations to provide financial literacy and business training to local community residents. Why do you think it’s important to be active in your community and reach out to other organizations with a similar mission?
Evelyn: I think it’s important because you reach a greater audience, and often times you help that organization with its capacity building by providing a service needed in the community. Fostering mutually beneficial partnerships provides both parties with greater exposure and an ability to get the message out to a larger audience. By collaborating with community-based organizations, I feel as if I have filled a need and because of who I am and what I look like, I serve as an inspiration to others in the community that they can pursue their passions and live their dreams as well.
MGS: Speaking from someone who has successfully launched her own company, what advice would you give to women looking to transform their part-time hobby into a viable business?
Evelyn:
- Make sure you’re truly passionate about what you want to do.
- Understand that it’s about the journey and not the destination.
- Strengthen your personal finances as much as possible. Pay down debt, fix your credit, and save money to live on. If you start from a strengthened financial position, when (not if) you have those financial challenges, you will be in a better position to deal with them.
- Understand your lifestyle pre-job and post-job. Have you built your current lifestyle around your job? If so, how much do you need to earn to maintain your lifestyle?
- Reduce your living expenses as much as possible. This will save you grief in the long run. Trust me!
- Understand and know where your sources of revenue are coming from for the next year. Forecast this out even if this is coming from savings and not a client. It’s better to know so that you can make more informed decisions.
- Develop your support network and start talking to those you trust about your idea.
- Thoroughly research and understand your market. What is your niche? Who is your ideal client? What is your message? How do you create value?
- Start networking. It’s not my favorite thing to do in the world, but it’s a very necessary part of the process. Do it with purpose, and it will be a more beneficial experience.
- Take the time to write some type of business plan,whether it be a traditional one or an EAB Cosmic Business Plan. Also, make sure it’s feasible and can support itself in the long run.
- Lastly, have fun!
